Channel 2, colloquially known as ‘Dos,’ is one of the most remarkable frequencies in local television.
On January 6, 2022, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) granted Advanced Media Broadcasting System (ABMS) a provisional authority to operate two television frequencies in Metro Manila: channels 2 (on analog VHF) and 16 (on digital UHF). These two were formerly occupied by ABS-CBN Corporation until May 5, 2020, after which, had its franchise renewal bid denied by Congress in July 2020. Eventually, those events prompted the commission to recall all of the frequencies on TV and radio the Kapamilya network once held by September 2020.
But, did you know that there has been aplenty of history with the frequency 2?
Technical things first!
The very-high frequency (VHF) has 2 bands used for public television. Both of which are enthusiastically named as Band I, III, respectively. In Band III, you would find all the channels from 7 to 13. In Metro Manila context, the members of this band are GMA, CNN Philippines (RPN), A2Z, and IBC. On the other side of the spectrum, Band I is composed of frequencies from 2 to 6. Meaning, this is the band where PTV and TV5, along with the former ABS-CBN channel 2 are part of.
Now, you may ask “what are those four letter words that accompany these frequency numbers when you search them on the internet?” Well, those are the call signs that these networks use to identify themselves within a particular locality or the area where they operate. Pre-shutdown, ABS-CBN used DWWX-TV in Manila, while it had used DYCB-TV for their frequency in Cebu.
Another thing that may confuse some are the words analog and digital. Channel 2, being part of the legacy VHF band, is considered to be an analog frequency. Thus, it is only allowed to broadcast one program/channel at a time. Meanwhile, digital is a shortened term for digital terrestrial television or DTT and is not to be interchanged with the other digital that refers to the internet and other up-and-coming technologies of today. For DTT, it is where the frequency channel 16 is a part of.
In 2023, the VHF band will cease for public TV broadcasts, and all players are to move to DTT. Thus, allowing bandwidths occupied to be used in other things, such as telecoms to fully launch 5G tech and later, even 6G.
It’s time to head over to the next part: the history.
History of Channel 2
First of all, the frequency ‘channel 2’ didn’t exist until 1969 or 16 years after the advent of television in the Philippines.
Initially, ABS (the pre-merger station) occupied channel 3 since its inception in October 1953. Five years later, the second television station came in CBN, which was then placed on Band III via channel 9. Even during the early years of the two entities’ merger, ABS-CBN kept both channels 3 and 9 under their fold. It was also during this era that the company began providing shows in living color on channel 3 — which was a first for Philippine TV.
But in 1969, the two had to switch frequencies to accommodate the launch of Kanlaon Broadcasting System of Ferdinand Marcos’ crony Roberto Benedicto who would later play a bigger role in the local television scene. Going back, this is the year when ABS-CBN moved from channel nine to four, and later, its primary frequency also transferred from three to channel 2. Benedicto’s KBS, in return, reused the channel 9 frequency.
Three years later, in 1972, the ABS-CBN network, alongside all the exisiting television stations then, were shuttered after the imposition of Martial rule by the late dictator Pres. Ferdinand Marcos. After seizing all the frequencies, slowly, all of the existing frequencies then returned to air, with the exception of channels 5 and 11 — which both remained off air until after the EDSA Revolution.
Remember Benedicto? In 1973, apart from controlling KBS Channel 9, he had gained control of the facilities of ABS-CBN in Quezon City. Ironically, the former KBS headquarters in Pasay City was actually the first home of ABS, but KBS had to leave it as it was engulfed in flames.
Not only that, but channel 2 was also reopened in the same year, but with a different name: BBC-2. Nope, it’s not the same thing as the one in the United Kingdom, but rather, it stands for the Banahaw Broadcasting Corporation — named after a mountain in Quezon province.
After that, Benedicto went on to acquire IBC. Meanwhile, the Marcos government reopened channel 4, but as the Government Television network. Together, except IBC, occupied the ABS-CBN compound (then renamed as the Broadcast Plaza). When Benedicto’s media group left for the Broadcast City in Capitol Hills, QC, GTV-4 remained within the ABS premises, even after the return of ABS-CBN in 1986.
As for channel 2, the network still remained operated by the Benedicto group, but was renamed as City2 in 1980. But as the competition was stiff between other Benedicto stations RPN (renamed from KBS) and IBC, 2 reverted to BBC in ’84 in an effort to spike ratings.
(Watch below to see a glimpse of what 2 looked like during those years).
Eventually, EDSA happened and the new government sequestered all of Benedicto’s stations, including RPN which he originally owned in the ’60s. Except channel 4, ABS-CBN was able to recover both the frequency of channel 2 and the land it owns in Mother Ignacia. But for six years, it had to share the place with PTV-4, before it eventually moved out for Visayas Avenue, QC in 1992.
It was also during this era when ABS-CBN branded themselves as the Star Network, helping it rise to the top by 1988 — a position it held until 2004.
Zooming into the 2020s, channel 2 was once again placed in an unknown future as the Congress rejected ABS-CBN’s bid to renew its legislative franchise to operate its free-to-air TV and radio networks across the country, that included channel 2.
With the impending analog switch-off, there is doubt casted onto its future and whether there is still possibility for it to be reused, by either the government or private entities, apart from ABS-CBN. Post-franchise denial, suggestions were even floated to make the channel a distance learning station, which later became DepEd TV on IBC. During times of calamities, there have been calls for it to be used as an information dissemination channel for such cause.
But, as they say, the world is round and so it did stay true for channel 2. Beginning this year, it would be reactivated for the upcoming station owned by the Villar Group through the Advanced Media Broadcasting System (AMBS). But that comes with the deadline of 2023, for the reason mentioned earlier.
There is still no word from the new ‘tenant’ of the frequency with regards to the format of the station that they would be operating on channel 2.
In conclusion
Channel 2 holds an important cornerstone in terms of Philippine television’s history. Through the many changes it went throughout the years, it remained as a gateway for many things for alot of Filipinos. Literally, the channel is the first thing you would see on an analog antenna-powered television set (until, of course, 2020). Aside from that, it was also the starting point for many events in local history, at the very least. Programs that it beamed out, too, had their share in making the frequency just beyond a mere TV channel. Truly, channel 2 is a paragon of what the state of the local media industry is in, and also that of our motherland.